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Interested in DC only. Haven't decided what area of law I want to dedicate myself to but I am very drawn to litigation. Having said this, I do not want to focus solely on litigation. I just hoenstly do not know what I want. All pay is approximately the same at these firms. During my callbacks I had the best experience with Goodwin and felt a connection there. Would like to be able to establish a career, not jump ship after 3 or 4 years. Thoughts?

A&P by a hundred miles and it's not even close. If you really preferred another firm, do some research and it's not like it would be totally crazy, but if you're asking for generic firm to firm comparisons from strangers, A&P wins by a landslide.

Would I be insane to pick Goodwin?

1. Maybe not insane... but Arnold & Porter is one of the best firms in DC, and I have also heard a great place to work. I know much less about the other two, but honestly I think that is telling in and of itself.

2. Responding to your edit: It's impossible to make partner at any law firm. Better law firms are known as such and associates tend to have more flexibility in future careers, including moving to other firms. Many people who start at the "best" firms wind up making partner at other firms.

As for pay, basically every firm in major cities has identical compensation these days.

Last edited by thesealocust on Mon Sep 02, 2013 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I know A&P and Covington are up there, but would be interested in getting a fuller list.

The home-grown heroes are: W&C, Covington, Arnold & Porter, Hogan Lovells and WilmerHale. A bunch of firms without DC offices still have excellent (albeit smaller) practices in DC; Gibson Dunn gets a lot of love for its appellate work, Jenner is notoriously snobbish in its hiring and I assume that translates into a fairly well known practice, etc. There are also lots of firms that are terrific in narrow specialties in DC (tax controversy/lobbying/etc.) which you can't easily "rank" versus the full service DC firms.

As usual, chambers & partners is probably the best place to start answering questions like these, and few people will have useful insights that go beyond what they say and what Above the Law reports.

I know A&P and Covington are up there, but would be interested in getting a fuller list.

The home-grown heroes are: W&C, Covington, Arnold & Porter, Hogan Lovells and WilmerHale. A bunch of firms without DC offices still have excellent (albeit smaller) practices in DC; Gibson Dunn gets a lot of love for its appellate work, Jenner is notoriously snobbish in its hiring and I assume that translates into a fairly well known practice, etc. There are also lots of firms that are terrific in narrow specialties in DC (tax controversy/lobbying/etc.) which you can't easily "rank" versus the full service DC firms.

As usual, chambers & partners is probably the best place to start answering questions like these, and few people will have useful insights that go beyond what they say and what Above the Law reports.

Skadden, Latham, Sidley and Jones Day all have large offices with pretty diverse practice area coverage. They are clearly second in pecking order to the homegrown DC firms (although Hogan seems to be off a bit since it did a megamerger with Lovells). The corporate practices of most DC firms are small, but the non-DC native firms seem to have a bit of an edge in that area.